Navy People: Dental Assistant's trip of a lifetime

27 April 2011

Able Seaman Dental Assistant Melissa Lavelle from the Royal Australian Navy, organises dental tools at a medical civil assistance project at Tu'anekivale in the Vava'u region of Tonga.

Melissa Lavelle joined the Navy to see the world and now, less than three years later she is on the trip of a lifetime.

Melissa is a Dental Assistant and when the chance came up for her to deploy with Pacific Partnership 2011 she jumped at the chance.

Pacific Partnership is an annual Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) program. The deployment aims to strengthen alliances and promote multilateral security cooperation.

Now in its seventh year, partner nations continue their mission to improve the lives of people in the Pacific region, as well as improve the capacities of nations and organisations to respond to disasters through recurring opportunities for cooperation and training.

This trip is Melissa’s first time at sea and over the period of the 10 week deployment she will visit four countries and see Darwin in the top end of Australia for the first time.

Melissa grew up in Wollongong with her sister and two brothers. She played netball at a state level, often travelling to Sydney to play teams there. She left school after completing year 12 and worked at a local dentist as a dental assistant.

After turning 21 and wanting to see a little more of the world Melissa joined the Navy and after completing her training she had a Certificate IV in Dental Assisting. Now an Able Seaman, she helps look after her fellow sailors by assisting the dentist chair side, helping during oral surgeries, taking x-rays and completing general administration.

"I love what I do," Melissa said "It's amazing what we can do to make a person’s teeth look better."

During Pacific Partnership Melissa had the opportunity to travel to a remote island in the Kingdom of Tonga and offer dental care to some of the local villagers there.

"It saddened me to see the state of some of the young kids teeth, so we gave out toothbrushes and toothpaste to help their growing teeth. Everyone was so grateful for the work we were doing for them."

Melissa returns to Australia 7 days after her 24th Birthday. She plans to go home and have a BBQ with her family and friends and catch up with her boyfriend.